Salvador Fernandes Zarco, according to a theory developed by Manuel Luciano da Silva, M. D., is the Portuguese birth name of Christopher Columbus (October 30?, 1448 – 20 May 1506), the man widely credited with discovering the "New World" in 1492.
Although several documents state that Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, several facts suggest a different origin for the explorer. Out of many theories of his origin (none fully demonstrated) several state that Columbus may have been born Portuguese (rather than arrived in Portugal in his early teens). This theory is supported by a number of scholars, while far from being widely accepted even in the Academia due to lack of investigation and humility.
Salvador Fernandes Zarco Author Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto has done genealogical research that suggests Columbus' given name was Salvador Fernandes Zarco. Salvador's mother was Isabel Gonçalves Zarco, daughter of João Gonçalves Zarco, a Portuguese noble of the House of Prince Henry the Navigator. The surname Zarco was actually a nickname derived from the Arabic "zarka" meaning "one with blue eyes." His family may have been of converso origin. On the patrilineal side, Zarco was first cousin of King John II, the half-brother of Queen Dona Leonor and King Manuel I, and grandnephew of Prince Henry the Navigator. Joao Zarco discovered the island of Madeira, and the family held important mercantile concessions there. Zarco's Portuguese royal connections may also be reflected in his frequent use of Portuguese place-names in the New World ("Cuba" is a small town in Alentejo, Portugal, and the quite, peaceful village of Vila Ruiva is theorized to have been SFZ birthplace).
Barreto's theory strongly claims that Zarco had a secret mission to distract Spanish royalty away from the true route to India, which Prince Henry was navigating around the Cape of Good Hope. Also Manuel Luciano da Silva points out that Columbus was on several occasions offered private investments to go on his expedition, but he refused for seven years until he had full approval from the Spanish Crown. This, he claims, would have fit in with King John's master plans.
Papal bulls The origins of Da Silva's hypothesis were founded in 1988, when he read a book by Portuguese author Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto titled (in English) The Portuguese Christopher Columbus: Secret Agent of King John II.
In 1994, Da Silva traveled to the Vatican to look at papal bulls related to the discovery of the New World in the late 15th century. In two inscriptions dated May 4, 1493, there are articles regarding the discovery of the new world by one "Cristofõm Colon". The manuscripts, written by Pope Alexander VI, have Columbus' name written in the Portuguese style. This spelling is inconsistent with Columbus' name in other possible nationalities, such as Italian and Spanish. The Spanish spelling is Cristobal Colón and the Italian is Cristoforo Colombo. This discovery is notable because at the time the manuscript was written, the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope together held great secular authority and proclaimed what was considered the final word.
Columbus' sigla and monogram
Christopher Columbus always signed his documents with his sigla instead of his name. The ambiguity of symbols allows for many different theories regarding the deeper meanings and representations of each symbol. Mascarenhas Barreto deciphers the sigla to support his belief that Columbus was in fact Portuguese. At the bottom of the sigla he finds evidence of the name Salvador Fernandes Zarco hidden among the symbols. The top part of the sigla proclaims Columbus' religious ties, but the author believes Columbus would mix well-known information in with more secretive double meanings.
The conclusion that the bottom section of Columbus' sigla reveals his true identity, Salvador Fernandes Zarco, is based on interpretations of the language. is a Greek abbreviation for Christ(o), who is recognized in Christianity as the Savior of the world. "Salvador" is the Portuguese word for "savior". The sigla is thought to refer to a given name and not to Christ, because references to Christ were routinely capitalized . It is interesting that Zarco named his first New World landfall "San Salvador". While an outward expression of Christian piety, it was also his own given name, an arcane fact that would fit in well with the hidden meanings of the "sigla" and Columbus' habits toward self-aggrandizement. is, according to Da Silva, the abbreviation of the name Fernandes in Portuguese.
The S symbol is slightly skewed in the top right corner. This is believed to symbolize the inverted Hebrew letter, lamedh. Lamed in Hebrew means colon, which corresponds to Colon as Columbus' last name. By the rules of Hebrew alphabet, the Lamed as an inverted letter signifies that the Lamed looks like 'Colon' but is intended to be read with its other meaning. The skewed Lamed also stands for the name 'Zarco' in Hebrew, and that concludes how Columbus hides 'Salvador Fernandes Zarco' in his sigla.
The reality of Zarco/Columbus' Jewish roots, far from being mere idle speculation, are further bolstered by his frequent but obscure written references to the "royal blood of Jerusalem" in his veins, his well-documented sympathy for the Iberian Jews who, after 2000-plus years in "Sepharad" were expelled from Spain the day he set sail for "India" (his was a very politically incorrect attitude for his era, and potentially dangerous to him personally), his penchant for keeping company with Marranos, Conversos and Moors, and the fact that so many Jews held important offices on his expedition (Luis de Torres, who colonized Cuba, was his translator, and Master Marco was the expeditionary physician, amongst others).
In fact, Da Silva's wife, Silvia, an expert embroiderer, has noted that the monogram with which Columbus signed his documents—usually to the left of his sigla—can be split into three initials: S. F. Z., for Salvador Fernandes Zarco.
The brothers Pinzon/Pinson (spelling?) were Jewish financial backers of SFZ and one or two of them accompanied the first voyage to the Caribbean with SFZ's small "fleet." Plus, the "fleet" set sail on the first day of the Expulsion.
Guest
2. 18-11-2009 17:39
I thought the Pinzon brothers were expert captains/Navigators from Palos, point of embarkation of voyage. They certainly contributed greatly to the voyage.
Speculation about Columbus being of converso origins from a number of places certainly has much merit. I find the Fernandes Zarco hypothesis less than compelling. Has anyone asked the family about these issues. There may be oral traditions or even documentary evidence.
Guest
3. 07-01-2010 03:12
SFZ's family records are available for review and study in various libraries through out Portugal, Spain and the Vatican.
I have done further studies about Zarco and the Columbus which we are all so aware of, and indeed, Zarco fits the bill.
Dr Silva also had a DNA test performed on the current Duke of Braganza, a direct male descended of the supossed Columbus lineage (which would have been the Zarco lineage)
His findings were amaizing, there is relation to these folks, which would mean that Columbus was NOT who he says he was.
Also Mr Simon Wiesenthal did his own studies about Columbus' Siglia, and once again, the Zarco theory fits.
Finally the Zarco meaning in Arabic fits Columbus' description, Zarco is derived from Zark/Zarka which is meant to describe blue eyes. This was eventually adopted by the Portuguese to mean hazel, the Portuguese are to this day the southern most Europeans that anyone can trace Hazel or light eyes continuously in their genes from the time of antiquity.
Please understand that I have had the pleasure to also visit Dr Silva's office in Bristol Rhode Island, as well as speak with other investigators about his theory, as well as some of his findings.
If anyone has any question about his carthography or where he gets this info from, let me fill everyone in for a minute... the Dr lives 20 minutes from the largest collection of old world maps in North America, which resides in Providence RI.
and to make things even more interesting, Dr Silva presents his case, and he has never been proven wrong about his findings.
The autonomous country of Genoa only lists 1 Cristoforo Colombo in their records for the same time that Columbus' would have been alive, and this man is registered as an older than 19 years of age man, who works with wool.
Please contact me at anytime with questions, or anyone who may have aditional info about documents, which have not been looked over for the past 50 years.
Guest
4. 21-08-2010 23:04
Can you tell me more about the DNA evidence. Really interesting.
Thank you.
ES
Guest
5. 24-02-2011 14:14
Very interesting, that graphic form of õm, its another way of ão in Portuguese I wasn't familiar with. The recent way of writing the name is Cristóvão (Colombo), very peculiar and very Portuguese vocab.
About the monogram and sigla, seems it was a very common in Portugal in his era. Moisés Espírito Santo, Religions Sociologist, Linguist (Portuguese-Phoenician dictionary), Ethnologist, Anthropologist, had edited several books about Portuguese eastern roots, one in particular is very interesting in this case, "Brasionário Português e a Cultura Hebraica" where he decodes and explains the exactly the same things mentioned in the article above.
Long voyages in open sea sailing, deals with so much, its a bit hard to imagine a sailor from a very small sea, and mostly coast sailing without long sailing periods, get in such enterprise and be successful. There are "skills" that only come from long time investment doing it, and any Portuguese, even in the smallest village, are pretty aware of what's "good food", and or it was a knowledge that come from "Discovery's" process, or it was the Portuguese culture and way of life, and also luck in the food's choice to embark, what allowed long term voyages. I doubt any country in the 15th century have the long periods experience of a complete starvation to be able to make the right relations and connections between whats last long, and have concerning health, better results. Obviously Cristóvão had that knowledge. And after the discovery of America, I bet that knowledge turn to be even more secret as any other nautical technology. But even Spain with good sailors, never had then the same organize effort or commitment from a entire Nation as Portugal, regarding sailing and Atlantic voyages, to have the full experience to do it. Looking at the design of Portuguese ships (Naus) they are designed to face waves of the open sea, nothing like the coast or Mediterranean waves. Just making a point, the experience makes the sailor.
